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Piracy Whistleblowers Paid $57K In 2010
alphadogg writes "In 2010, the Software and Information Industry Association received 157 reports of alleged corporate end user software piracy. Of the 157 reports, 42 (or 27%) were judged sufficiently reliable to pursue. Of these, 16 qualified for rewards totaling $57,500. The profile of sources reporting software piracy indicates that most reports come from former IT staff – these are the people who typically witness the illegal use of software. 75% of all reports come from IT staff or managers, 11% from the company's senior management and 4% from outside consultants. More than 59% of those reporting are no longer employed by the target company. In fact, many of SIIA's sources report that their primary reason for leaving the target company was the company's lack of ethical behavior related to software compliance."
In fact, many of SIIA's sources report that their primary reason for leaving the target company was the company's lack of ethical behavior related to software compliance.
It's a shock what people lose sleep over in this day and age.
:. Ultimate Control Dedicated/VM Servers
pirated software also hurts open source take up too.
More than 59% of those reporting are no longer employed by the target company.
Yep, and I wonder how many are unemployable?
Or, how many can actually get another job?
Two things you never want to be associated with:
1. Thief.
2. Whistleblower.
$3,593.75 isn't worth it for me. If there were piracy going on where I worked and management was part of it, I'd keep my mouth shut and leave.
No company wants someone who's going to go reporting on illegal activity - none. They may say they do, but in reality, they don't.
Everyone, let alone entire companies, has something to hide. You may not know it, but you do - there's just too many laws, IP, regulations and whatnot to run afoul.
"In 2010, SIIA sent approximately 1400 demand letters, collected close $40,000 in restitution."
That's under $30/letter on average. From the SIIA website:
"Those who report piracy taking place within an organization to SIIA may be eligible for a reward of up to $1 million."
From TFA:
"In 2010, the Software and Information Industry Association received 157 reports of alleged corporate end user software piracy. Of the 157 reports, 42 (or 27%) were judged sufficiently reliable to pursue. Of these 16 qualified for rewards totaling $57,500."
$57k for 16 cases is a far cry from "Up to $1M". Could it be that they're being deceptive/misleading?
make imaginary.friends COUNT=100 VISIBLE=false
OK So these people may feel morally better. They probably are.
But when asked the question during an interview. "Why did you leave you last organization?" Answer "Oh I turned them in for a few thousand dollars."
That is a career limiting move.
Yah it's wrong but it's true.
Then there is the industry. Only coughing up $57,000 grand total. That's not even an IT persons full time salary for a year. The reward or even stigma of the reward is doing more damage to personal lives than the good of correcting the poor behavior of companies. I'm sure MS has paid more for a poster about piracy than it paid out to people doing the right thing.
It just makes me shake my head.
Only 57k total ???? I would expect from one, half decent bust. Sounds like beer money rather than bait. Let's face it, animus, deserved or not, is the big motivator.
You shouldn't be surprised, because typically these bounties state that you get some percentage of the money collected as damages through a court, but most cases are never reach that state, they're settled out of court. The idea that you can "turn someone in and become rich" is but a dream; in all likelihood you'll never see a dime. You'll just be that guy.
Belief is the currency of delusion.
In fact, many of SIIA's sources report that their primary reason for leaving the target company was the company's lack of ethical behavior related to software compliance.
so they say then eh .... rather, they got fired, laid off, or quit/changed jobs and decided to make a quick buck or to take revenge.
Read radical news here
Of course, there is another plausible scenario:
Which isn't to say that some of those reports aren't made by highly principled people, of course. But I bet I know which category had the most hits...
Don't let THEM immanentize the Eschaton!
The HUGE reward was that I moved on, while that small company continued to fail, and actually tried to bribe Government investigators, as to their contract qualifications! They cheated 49 staff employees out of pay, intimidated everyone, and stole works from legitimate competitors. Glad they are gone from this classified government contracting arena, they won't be missed. I still wonder if they were on the payroll of foreign governments who are enemies to free countries. Well, my work there was done, and these workers won many awards from the clients, but, all glory and money was stolen from us, by the bosses! Dilbert moment, in real life! Nope, I got no cash reward, nor did the other folks who joined me in turning in this scum to several agencies. Our reward is that evil did NOT win in any way, and we are still a FREE people! Charges were brought, fines were levied, Jail was threatened for the bosses. BTW, I don't give a crap about the proprietary software venue, but, theft is a crime, as is mistreatment of employees, and sooner or later, evil villains will fall. Happy to have stopped their massacre of innocent victims! Often, the theft of Intellectual Property is only the tip of the iceberg! If they don't run FLOSS, I am very wary of working for them! Using only proprietary software, indicates that they are not the right kind of intellect to use all available tools, and can't compete with those who do use Free, Libre, Open Source Software! IOW, I can't tolerate idiots as bosses! I fire them as soon as they answer my question about FLOSS use, during the interview!
It isn't as though piracy in every company will be the same. So suppose that you work for a company and piracy is widespread, they don't pay for any of their apps. This includes apps by small developers, for who the couple thousand licenses would be a major, major sale. You go and talk to management about it and get told "You'll keep your mouth shut if you know what is good for you."
In that case, I'd say you are quite justified going to an anti-piracy group, even if they do offer a reward. After all you tried to deal with the problem internally and couldn't, and the company is just ripping off others for their own gain.
Now on the other hand if you work at a company where most software is licensed. You occasionally find some unlicensed stuff, but it is clearly not the norm or the policy. Things like users installing their own stuff because there are poor IT policies, or a group pirating something they need to do their job because their supervisor is incompetent. Management is clearly unaware of this, and you never bring it to their attention.
In that case ya I'll call you a money grubbing asshole if you go to an anti-piracy group. After all it is entirely possible that the situation would be rectified if brought to someone's attention and if you don't want to do that for risk of retribution, just let it go, it isn't a big deal.
Good so copying isn't stealing which means I can lock up GPL code in my apps and you're totally cool with that, right? It is just copying some bits, fuck the GPL!
Oh but you don't like that do you? Well I hate to break the news to ya but whether GPL or proprietary you are STILL ripping someone off.
And lets be honest MR Coward, your "solutions" suck except for a couple of little niches like web servers. Where is my FOSS QuickBooks? Where is my FOSS PhotoShop? Where is my FOSS version of the 50 million specialized apps, everything from nursing assistants to parts inventory? Oh right they don't exist, because everyone in FOSS seems to think all you need is a desktop and a web browser...riiight.
So in conclusion MR Coward it isn't some "conspiracy" why FOSS is at 1% and frankly stagnant, it is because you don't give the people what they want and the proprietary companies do. People say they want a CLI free desktop they get told by you "RTFA noob!" while Apple and MSFT are more than happy to take that business. They ask where the apps they require to do their job or the driver the need for their equipment is and get told "write it yourself", meanwhile other companies are happy to write them precisely because they can get paid to do it.
So please, go right ahead and push illegal software so you can "stick it to the man", I just hope you are ready for the "fun" of a BSAA audit when someone who gets pissed at your little solution decides to cash you in.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.